Despite an overall low crime rate, local officials say domestic violence is a problem in State College and have created three new positions in the borough to fight the issue.

Centre County has been given $398,000 in federal grant money to reduce domestic violence in the area, and State College is using the funds to add a victim's advocate, a detective and a data technician to the payroll.

"Domestic violence is an issue in the entire county, not just in State College," said State College Police Department Chief Tom King. "We have a low violence and murder rate in State College, and most of the murders that we have had have been domestic violence-related."

From December 2004 to November 2005, State College police received calls for one homicide, nine rapes and 11 robberies in the borough, College Township and Harris Township, according to the department's Web site.

Anne Ard, director of the Centre County Women's Resource Center, said domestic violence is a serious issue and that these new jobs would help State College deal with domestic violence better.

"Domestic violence is an issue everywhere, and State College is no better or worse than any other place in the area," Ard said. "State College has been proactive in addressing domestic violence as a community problem, and this [program] is another part of the progression of dealing with domestic violence."

She said the three new positions help to make up what is called the victim-centered intensive case management team.

Of the three jobs created, two of the positions have already been filled, Ard said. One of the jobs is a detective who works with the State College police. The detective handles domestic violence referrals and investigates the crime.

The second job is a victim's advocate who works at the Women's Resource Center in State College, Ard said. The advocate and the detective both go to the victim's house to get information and make sure that the victim knows what options are available to him or her. According to Ard, the main job of the advocate is to support the victim and to be there to offer help.

The third position, which has yet to be filled, deals with data management and technology, she said.

The position will track offenders from place to place and keep up with how many times they may have offended in order to keep them from getting lost in the system. They will also look at the individual histories of domestic violence offenders to track their histories of abuse.

King also said this program will allow the police of the Centre region to put all of their collected data on offenders out there in hopes of preventing domestic violence from becoming a more serious problem.

King said many victims of domestic violence do not feel they can go on with their lives, which this program will help ease.

Amy Ortwein, policy and information coordinator for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said she feels it would be extremely beneficial to have programs such as this one in place throughout the state.

"From what I can tell, it seems to be a way all law enforcement agencies can get together and see where they could have helped and hopefully prevent similar things from happening in the future," she said.

According to King, the grant that funds this anti-domestic violence program will last for only two years. However, Centre County will apply again for the grant if it is available, King said.

"However, if the funding does go away, then hopefully we will have made enough of a change," he said.

State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the effectiveness of the program would also be evaluated after the two years is up.

"We will try to evaluate the success of the program and decide whether the impact warrants continuation," Fountaine said.